Safety Within His Arms
by See Jane Write
Summary: Carter still cares about Abby more than he lets on. PostSkin he steps out of the hospital to find her just as she is dropped off. Complete.
1. Chapter One

Safety Within His Arms

Disclaimer: A disclaimer should be self-explanatory.

Abby Lockhart let out a huge sigh of relief as the black car containing her kidnappers sped off down the street. She was finally free. She smiled slightly then wrapped her arms around herself as a form of protection against the harsh winter cold. She took a few steps closer towards the hospital before running. Hospital meant heat and heat was something she definitely needed at the moment.

_Crap,­ _she thought as she continued running. Hospital also meant Susan. Susan who without a doubt would be pissed at her for leaving during her shift. She sighed. She could explain it to Susan later. Later as in when she was not at the risk of hypothermia.

In her desire to get inside, Abby failed to notice co-worker John Carter exiting the hospital. Officially, Carter was getting a breath of air. Unofficially, he was seeing if there were any clues that would lead him to where Abby was. This behavior was unlike her and it was worrying him. He had to be sure that she was safe.

The two of them collided, heads bumping against one another's. "Sorry," Carter said in a distracted tone of voice before he noticed who he had bumped in to. "Abby? Oh my god, Abigail!" he exclaimed as he threw his arms around her thin body. He did not notice that the woman held within his arms had no coat whatsoever, neither her black winter coat nor her white doctor one. He also did not realize that blood covered a good portion of her scrubs. All that he realized was that she was there, safe in his arms. He pulled her close, her head right below his. "I was so worried," he whispered as he kept his hold on her strong.

"Why?" Abby asked as she kept her gaze solely on the ground. She did not want to admit to where she had been. By admitting, she would know it really had happened. It was not just some nightmare of hers. She was not yet ready to face the truth of the night. "How long was I gone?"

"Too long," Carter murmured into her dirty blond hair. "Far too long," he continued as he gently stroked his hand over her hair. He could feel her shivering within his grasp. "Oh god. I'm sorry," he said as he pulled away from her. He began unzipping the zipper to his own coat. The zipper was nearly three-quarters unzipped before Carter got a good look at Abby.

Abby was still staring at the ground, Carter noted. Her hair was messy, but that did not worry him. The part that made him fear for her safety was the numerous blood stains soaked through her normally green scrubs. "Oh god," Carter whispered. "What happened?" he asked as he wrapped his coat around her thin shoulders.

Abby said nothing, only kept her focus on the ground.

"Come on," Carter insisted as he grabbed her hand. "We need to get you inside. Surely someone can fix whatever's wrong."

"No," Abby whispered. "That's not necessary. It's nothing."

"It's not nothing," Carter rebutted. "You're covered in blood," he pointed out gently. "Now what happened?" he demanded.

Abby's resolve broke. Tears filled her eyes as she moved closer to Carter. Her co-worker wrapped his arms around her once again and began rubbing soothing circles on her back. "Shh, it's ok. I'm here. It's ok," he whispered.

"The-they c-came out of now-where," Abby sobbed. "They h-had a g-gun," she continued. The fear in her voice was unmistakable. Just recalling the experience put a stammer in the resident's speech and made her shake with fear.

"Who?" Carter asked. His voice was filled with concern. Whoever this 'they' were, they had caused his Abby a frightening experience. Carter tightened his grip on the woman he still cared for as he waited for her response.

"T-two guys…Big, b-b-black…Had g-gun," Abby noted. She tried to recall their names but found she could not. Anything about them would only frighten her more at this point. The only means of safety she had right now were Carter's strong arms around her body, shielding her from the harsh world of Chicago. "They w-wanted me t-to fix their f-friend…T-took me away…Drove fast…Had gun," she explained between tears.

Just trying to imagine what Abby had gone through was enough to make Carter feel sick to his stomach. He held her tightly with his right arm. Using his left arm, he picked up her head. He wiped the tears away from her face then looked firmly into her wide, brown eyes. "I won't let these jerks, or any other jerks like them, hurt you ever again," he promised. "Trust me."

He then wrapped his arm around Abby's shoulders and began heading for the hospital entrance. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up and with a nice cup of hot chocolate. What do you say?"

"Susan," Abby whispered. Her speech pattern was no longer labored. She knew she was safe now. Now she had to deal with the consequences. She dabbed at her eye with her blood-free sleeve.

"Susan is worried sick about you," Carter noted. "We all are by this point. We'd all really like- and need- to see you. So what do you say?"

Abby smiled slightly for the first time that horrific evening. "Hot chocolate sounds nice," she said as she joined hands with Carter and began walking inside the nice, warm room. "Thank you."

"Of course," Carter promised as he gently kissed her forehead. "Anytime."


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Susan Lewis glanced at the clock again. By this point Abby had been missing for nearly five hours and Susan was officially worried. She had left numerous telephone messages, both to Abby's cell phone and home phone. She had tried paging her. She was so desperate that she had even sent Neela over to the house to see if Abby was in the shower or something.

Now she was standing behind the main desk. Both of her eyes were focused on the phone directly in front of her. Anticipation filled her body as she waited for it to ring. It had to ring, she told herself.

Much to the woman's surprise, the phone did ring. Susan jumped before collecting herself and answering it. "County Emergency, this is Susan," she said in a hurried voice.

"Dr. Lewis?" came the very quiet reply.

Susan could tell it was a female on the other line, but she could not identify any accent. The only thing she could gather was that the caller was a woman who worked at the hospital. "Abby?" she asked in hope.

"It's Neela," the caller corrected. "I'm at home, but she's not here. And from the looks of the place, she hadn't been," Neela informed her boss. "There's still laundry around and she hadn't opened the pack of cigarettes on the counter," she added for evidence.

"Damn it," Susan yelled loudly. "Sorry," she added.

"It's fine," Neela said. "Nothing personal. I'll be back in a few," she promised before hanging up the phone.

Susan slammed the small, black phone down with frustration. Frustration in the fact that she still did not know where the woman in question was.

"Anything?" Jerry Markovic asked curiously as he looked over at Susan from his position behind the computer.

Susan groaned as she shook her head back and forth. "Nothing. Neela said there's no evidence that Abby went home. I have absolutely no idea where she is."

"But she's alive right?" Urbanus asked in fear of Abby's safety.

"I hope so," Susan answered as she sat down behind the desk. Using her hands, she propped up her head on the desk. This whole thing was getting too frustrating for her. The thought that Abby might not even be alive had only briefly crossed her mind in the past. She had tried to ignore it by telling herself the woman was just getting some cigarettes, or she wanted to go to the movies.

"I know so," Carter added as he walked over to the desk. His left arm was wrapped across Abby's shoulders and his right hand was clutched tightly within her two hands.

"Oh good god, she's alive!" Urbanus shouted happily. "I was so worried, and I kept telling myself that you could defend yourself, but still--"

"Back to work," Susan interrupted as she hurried over to Carter and Abby. She immediately took notice to Abby's bloodied wardrobe and how unkempt the woman's hair was. That never meant good news. "What happened?" she asked as she and Carter eased Abby into a chair along the wall.

Abby shook her head as she picked one spot on the floor and focused on it. Her face was slightly flushed due to both embarrassment and the previous cold she had been in. "I-I don't want to talk about it," she whispered. "I just want to get changed and have some hot chocolate."

"Of course," Susan told her. "But medically speaking, you're fine, right?" she asked. The concern in her voice was unmistakable.

Abby nodded slightly. "It's not my blood," she whispered. "I'm not hurt."

"Thank goodness," Susan said as she extended her right hand to Abby. "Come on, let's get you in something cleaner."

"And I'll get the hot chocolate ready," Carter added. "You want it with cream or anything?" he asked. "I can run across the street and buy those little marshmallows," he offered.

Abby smiled slightly. "That'd be nice."

"Then off I go," he promised as he rushed through the doors.

"And we'll get you changed," Susan commented. "By the time he's back and with hot chocolate, you'll be freshly clothed and cleaned," she promised.

Abby smiled at Susan. "Thank you," she said softly.

"So I know you weren't at a movie or just getting a smoke," Susan began, "but are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Later," Abby promised.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Half an hour had passed between the time Abby had been brought back in and the present. The resident was now changed into some fresh clothes. She sat at the end of one of the beds in the otherwise vacant Curtain Three while Sam worked at getting her face, hands, and hair all cleaned up.

"You don't have to do this," Abby tried again as the nurse carefully washed the minor cuts on Abby's left hand. Mainly there were no injuries, just dried blood, but Sam had strict orders from Susan to check just to be safe.

"It's not a problem," Sam assured Abby as she finished up with Abby's left hand and lower arm. "I don't get off for another hour, and it's either this or trauma work with Pratt." She slowly moved over so that she was on Abby's right. "If you don't mind my asking, what happened?"

Abby shook her head slightly and slowly. "Not yet," she whispered. The memories were still vivid in her mind. She knew that the car had driven off a good forty minutes ago, but she could not help but fearing that they would be back, that they might want revenge for her not helping their friend. The whole experience was still too frightening. The only thing she wanted was to repress the whole thing and try to forget it ever happened.

"We don't need to get a rape kit or anything like that, do we?" Sam asked with deep concern. The details of what happened to Abby were none of her business, but her co-worker's unwillingness to talk about it worried her slightly. She had seen rape victims, and most of the ones she saw had similar characteristics.

Again Abby shook her head. "Nothing like that happened," Abby said. "I just don't think I'm ready to talk about what actually did."

Sam nodded sympathetically. "Understandable," she said. She decided it was best not to say anything else. She just kept working on cleaning the blood off of Abby's pale skin. "Now you, Miss Lockhart, are all set," she said a moment later as she tossed the bloodied paper towel into the trash. "If you need anything," she began.

"I know," Abby interrupted. "Everyone's been saying that lately."

"Well we're all concerned," Carter said as he entered the room. In his left hand he held a fresh cup of hot chocolate complete with several little marshmallows floating near the top. "This is for you," he said as he walked over to Abby, handing her the mug.

"Thanks," Abby said softly before bringing the mug up to her lips and taking a small sip. "For everything," she added a moment later just as quietly.

Carter nodded as he sat down next to her on the bed. Abby noticed what he was doing and moved over slightly to give him more room. "No problem," he assured her. "The important thing is that you're back and safe."

"Safe," Abby said. As the word crossed over her lips she began to believe it was true. She had nothing to be afraid of anymore. She was safely returned back to County and was in the presence of friends, co-workers, and a few security guards. Those two men, should they ever decide to come back, could not get her anymore. For the first time that night since her abduction, a small smile crossed over Abby's lips before she took another sip of hot chocolate.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Abs, everyone's worried about you," Carter said as he walked into the room again. He walked over and sat down next to her. Abby jumped a little, but allowed Carter to stay seated and wrap his arm around her shoulders. "They deserve to at least know something."

Abby shook her head before taking another sip of hot chocolate. "No, they don't. It's not their business. I don't want them to know."

"Abby, we're just concerned, that's all," Carter explained gently.

"Well, you don't need to be. I'm fine," Abby pointed out a bit too quickly.

Carter raised an eyebrow. "You're fine?" he questioned. "You're hiding out in the furthest curtain room from the entrance alone, and you call that fine?"

"I-It's not hiding," Abby argued. "I'm just drinking hot cocoa."

"For an hour?" Carter asked dubiously. "I'm surprised it's still hot," he commented. He rose from the bed and extended a hand to Abby. "Come on," he encouraged. "I'll take you home."

Abby shook her head. "You don't need to do that," she assured him. "I mean, I don't want you to get the wrong idea about us," she added. "We don't need to be doing that again. You have Wendall."

Carter shrugged. "She's not so great," he pointed out. "Come on," he offered. He looked over at Abby again. She was looking down into her empty cup of hot chocolate. Her body was shaking slightly. "Abby, they can't get you now," Carter assured her. "You're safe now," he added as he wrapped an arm around her again. "I promise."

Abby looked up at him. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Positive," he said confirmed as he pulled her to her feet. "Ready?"

Abby nodded slightly. "Ok," she said slowly, "but only if you promise to take me to my doorstep."

"I promise," Carter said as the two of them began walking out of the curtain room.


End file.
